New York Homeschool Laws (2026): Notice, IHIP, Quarterly Reports and Hours

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New York asks more of homeschooling parents than most states do, but it also spells out every step and every deadline, for the family and for the school district. Once you know the order of the paperwork, the year is predictable: a letter in July, a plan in August, a short report each quarter, and a test score or written evaluation at the end.

How to start

The rules don't come from a homeschool statute. They are in 8 NYCRR § 100.10, a regulation issued by the Commissioner of Education, which the State Education Department calls home instruction. Its own page opens with the basic right: "Parents of, or persons in parental relation to, compulsory school age children have the legal right to instruct their children at home."

The district's job is to be sure your child is taught the required subjects, not to choose how. The department's page says: "Parents are responsible for identifying the curriculum materials that they will use to instruct their children in the required subject areas." You tell the superintendent you're teaching at home, and the district sends back the form for your child's plan.

Notice

The notice is a letter you write yourself. Section 100.10(b)(1) says parents "shall annually provide written notice to the superintendent of schools of their school district of residence of their intention to educate their child at home by July 1st of each school year." It also fixes the calendar: "The school year begins July 1st and ends June 30th for all purposes within this section."

If you decide to start partway through a year, or you move into a new district after the year has begun, the deadline is different. The regulation says such parents "shall provide written notice of their intention to educate their child at home within 14 days following the commencement of home instruction within the school district."

After your letter arrives, the clock starts for the district. The State Education Department puts it plainly: "The district is obligated to reply within 10 business days of receiving the notice of intent by sending to the parents a copy of C.R. 100.10 and a form on which to submit an IHIP."

The IHIP, or individualized home instruction plan, is the one form the district supplies. You return it "Within four weeks of the receipt of such materials, or by August 15th" and the rule then adds "whichever is later, the parent shall submit the completed IHIP form to the school district." Each child's plan lists the child's name, age and grade, the textbooks or curriculum you'll use for each required subject, who is teaching, and the dates you'll send your quarterly reports.

Required subjects

The subjects change with the grade band.

The full course lists, quoted from the regulation

For grades one through six, the regulation lists "arithmetic, reading, spelling, writing, the English language, geography, United States history, science, health education, music, visual arts, physical education, bilingual education and/or English as a second language where the need is indicated."

Grades seven and eight are counted in units across the two years: "English (two units); history and geography (two units); science (two units); mathematics (two units); physical education (on a regular basis); health education (on a regular basis); art (one-half unit); music (one-half unit); practical arts (on a regular basis); and library skills (on a regular basis)." A unit is defined as 6,480 minutes of instruction in a school year, which works out to 108 hours.

High school is also counted in units, over four years: "English (four units); social studies (four units)... mathematics (two units); science (two units); art and/or music (one unit); health education (one-half unit); physical education (two units); and three units of electives."

Education Law §§ 801, 804, 806 and 808 add four topics, which the regulation says are "to be covered during grades kindergarten through 12": "(a) patriotism and citizenship; (b) health education regarding alcohol, drug and tobacco misuse; (c) highway safety and traffic regulations, including bicycle safety; and (d) fire and arson prevention and safety."

Days and hours

Read this rule closely. New York sets a day count and an hour count, and a child in grades 1 through 12 has to reach both. Spread over 180 days, 900 hours is five hours a day and 990 hours is five and a half. So an 8th grader taught five hours a day meets the day count long before the hour count, and needs 198 days in all to reach 990 hours. The regulation gives no hours figure for kindergarten.

Absences follow the district's own rules for its students; the regulation says they "shall be permitted on the same basis as provided in the policy of the school district for its own students."

The attendance tracker has a New York setting that checks days and hours together and tells you which one is holding you back. To see where a 180-day, 990-hour year ends before it starts, try the year planner with your breaks filled in.

Records

The parent keeps the attendance record, not the district, and hands it over only if the district asks. Your quarterly reports already carry the hours for each quarter, so a daily log that adds up to those figures makes each report easy to write and easy to check.

The regulation text doesn't set a number of years for keeping attendance records. A simple habit is to file each year's log in one folder with that year's notice, IHIP and reports, so the whole year can be found at once.

Testing and evaluation

Reporting happens four times a year, on the dates you chose in the IHIP, which must be spaced in even and logical periods. Under § 100.10(g), each quarterly report contains "(1) the number of hours of instruction during said quarter; (2) a description of the material covered in each subject listed in the IHIP; (3) either a grade for the child in each subject or a written narrative evaluating the child's progress; and (4) a written explanation in the event that less than 80 percent of the amount of the course materials as set forth in the IHIP planned for that quarter has been covered in any subject."

The annual assessment goes in with the fourth report. It is either a standardized test score or, in some grades, a written narrative. The parent picks the test from this list: "the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, the California Achievement Test, the Stanford Achievement Test, the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, the Metropolitan Achievement Test, a State Education Department test, or another test approved by the State Education Department."

A score counts as adequate if "the student has a composite score above the 33rd percentile on national norms" or if it shows "one academic year of growth as compared to a test administered during or subsequent to the prior school year." A program whose assessment falls short is placed on probation for up to two school years, and the parent submits a remediation plan that the district reviews.

The narrative is an option in grades 1 to 3 every year. In grades 4 to 8 it "may be used no more often than every other school year for these grades" so the other years need a test. It is written by a New York State-certified teacher, a home instruction peer group review panel or another qualified person, chosen by the parent with the superintendent's consent, who has interviewed the child and reviewed a portfolio of the child's work. In grades 9 to 12 there is no narrative alternative, and the assessment has to be a test.

Records checklist

Sources (3)

1. 8 NYCRR § 100.10, Home instruction (Cornell LII) law.cornell.edu
2. NYSED: Home Instruction nysed.gov
3. NYSED: Home Instruction Questions and Answers nysed.gov

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